The invention relates to a brake assembly for a utility vehicle.
The brake assemblies in the case of utility vehicles, such as for example with agricultural machines, are preferably designed as ring or annular piston brakes. In the case of ring piston brakes a fluid contained in an actuator chamber is or pressurized by a piston for example when a brake pedal is operated. Due to the pressurization the actuator fluid, a force is exerted on a control member, such as for example a ring piston. In this case the fluid can be a liquid or gaseous medium. Due to the axial movement of the control member, caused by the pressurised fluid, the utility vehicle is braked by means of a brake element, such as a brake back plate for example, coupled with the control member. The control member is coupled with the brake element by means of an intermediate part and by first and second rotatable coupling discs, which are located between the control member and the intermediate part and between the intermediate part and the brake element.
During operation of a utility vehicle, wear of the respective brake discs occurs over the course of time. Due to the wear of the respective brake discs the originally pre-set clearances in the brake increase. By clearance, it is meant the distance, which must be overcome during an axial movement between the control member and the intermediate part and/or between the brake element and the intermediate part, so that the utility vehicle can be braked. In order to prevent the clearance from increasing, exact re-setting is necessary, since otherwise the axial distance between the control member and the intermediate part and/or the brake element and the intermediate part becomes larger and larger in each case. This can lead, in the case of identical brake operations, to less or no braking action on the utility vehicle being obtained. Additionally it must be guaranteed that after a brake operation the control member, the brake element and the intermediate part again separate from the respective coupling and return to their respective initial positions.
The object of the present invention is to provide a brake assembly, which allows the separation of a coupling from the control member, the brake element and the intermediate part whilst re-setting the clearance.
This object is achieved according to the invention by the features of Claim 1. Advantageous embodiments of the invention are indicated in the sub-claims.
The advantages of the invention is that separation of a respective rotatable brake disc from control member, brake element and intermediate part, slow-running two-disc ring piston brake, is possible by means of a displacement or restoring unit arranged on the intermediate part. Furthermore re-setting of the clearance of the ring piston brake is rendered possible by means of a friction griping device. Therefore identical brake operation can be guaranteed irrespective of wear. Also the intermediate part is centred between the control member and the brake element by means of the displacement or restoring unit.